JD Vance Ramps Up ‘Dynamite’ Fraud Crackdown After DW Investigation Exposes Barrel Of Abuse

Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that uncovering fraud in the federal government was like “fishing in a barrel with dynamite.” His comment came after The Daily Wire reported Monday that Ohio was doling out federal Medicaid dollars for people to spend time with their families. 

Vance, who is heading up the President Donald Trump’s Fraud Task Force, said he is surprised every week to find what kind of fraud his team was discovering. 

“Finding fraud in the federal government, it’s kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite. Every week, I get a report for the task force,” Vance said during an appearance in Iowa. “I am shocked every single day by the things that we find.”

Vance previously promised on Monday that the Fraud Task Force would dig into The Daily Wire’s reporting on Medicaid fraud in his home state. 

“These shocking allegations, if true, show why the Fraud Task Force’s work is so important. I’m directing the task force to look into it and take immediate action to prosecute any fraudsters involved and stop all further payments as appropriate,” he wrote on X, sharing a thread from Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak detailing the uncovered fraud.

Rosiak reported Monday that Ohio spent a billion dollars on home health care in 2024, the last year for which data is available. What these funds went toward was difficult to verify because they often went toward “home health care” performed in private residences by family members of those getting the care.

During his speech in Iowa, Vance said that the Trump administration was working to go after the fraudsters who have grown rich by defrauding the American taxpayer. 

“We had let fraud become so rampant in this country that people were able to get rich, not by creating something amazing, not by employing something, not by building something beautiful with their hands,” Vance said. “They were able to get rich by defrauding every single person in this room.”

The vice president said Somali fraudsters in Minneapolis had taken advantage of a program intended to help autistic children and discussed rampant Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) waste uncovered by Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins. 

He said that Rollins had found 355,000 people receiving double SNAP benefits and 186,000 dead people on SNAP. 

“I actually think that we should take food stamps away from dead people,” Vance said. “I’m guilty of that. I think that’s a reasonable thing.”

The fight over SNAP fraud has now headed to the states where lawmakers are attempting to eliminate a loophole called broad-based categorical eligibility which allows people to qualify for SNAP without asset testing.